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A TEXAN FOR HILLARY

“Chet Farmer is a lifelong progressive, naturalized Texan, and obsessive cyclist based in Houston. He and Mr Shiels share a Magnolia origin. Follow him @chetman, or his personal blog at www.mischeathen.com.”

I’m with her.

And not just because she’s not-Trump, either.

I’m with her because I’m not afraid of Muslims, and I don’t think we need to betray our values because we’ve become afraid. The Statue of Liberty speaks for me; we’re stronger because we’re a nation of immigrants, many of whom came here because their original homes became unsafe or unstable.

I’m with her because I believe, as her husband once said, that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare, and that the best way to achieve the last goal is to ensure that everyone has access to family planning services and scientifically accurate information — regardless of employer beliefs.

I’m with her because I believe Federal agencies like the EPA and the Department of Education provide valuable services to our Republic, and that the absence of the regulations provided by those agencies would materially damage our country.

I’m with her because I believe 99% of the world’s climate scientists when they tells us what a problem we have with climate change.

I’m with her because I believe that when a full-time worker still qualifies for Federal anti-poverty programs, that employer is getting a free ride from the taxpayer. That shit has got to STOP.

I’m with her because I believe our LBGTQ friends and family deserve equal rights and protection before the law.

I’m with her because our work with health care reform isn’t done, and the way forward involves improving, not repealing, the ACA.

I’m with her because I see her resume, and I see what people who have worked with her in Washington and New York have said about her, and it’s a long damn way from what the Right Wing noise machine has been saying since the early 1990s.

I’m with her because, like her, I see America as an exceptional place, where people come from all over to seek their fortunes, and because I want that to continue.

I could go on and on, but I won’t because I recently got dinged for overlong posts. But this is an election, as John Scalzi notes, between mostly-normal and completely-fucking-abnormal. It’s not a race between a center-left Democrat and a center-right Republican. It’s a race between a center-left Democrat — with a solid resume, and well liked even across the aisle — and a multi-bankruptcy charlatan who’s never held elected office, and who proves daily that he has a terrifying relationship with both his own temper and reality.

Maybe you hate Hillary, for whatever reason. But Hillary isn’t going to start a war in a fit of pique. Hillary isn’t going to sell out our NATO allies, as Trump has threatened to do. Hillary isn’t seeking to reign in the free press, as Trump has mentioned. Many honorable Republicans are horrified this cycle, and more than a few have said either that they won’t vote for Trump, or they’ll definitely vote for HRC instead. That’s how outside even the GOP mainstream Trump is.

We don’t have a parliamentary system here; votes for third party candidates in 2016 are wasted. Come January, either Hillary or Donald will move into 1600 Pennsylvania. Pick one.